Tom Dignard '10

Dec 02, 2009

by Steve Conn, Yale Sports Publicity Director

Last January at Hamilton, N.Y., the Bulldogs pulled off one of
the more improbable comebacks in the history of Yale Athletics. The
Elis trailed Colgate 4-0 midway through the final frame before
tallying five straight times and taking a 5-4 OT win.

Tom Dignard ’10, a blueliner who sometimes seems like a
quarterback on the ice, helped engineer one of the greatest wins of
a magical championship season in New Haven. He scored two times and
handed out one assist that night to keep a young win streak
alive.

Twenty-four hours earlier at raucous Lynah Rink, Dignard, who had
a goal, played one of his best games to help end Cornell’s
10-game unbeaten streak and give the Blue its first win at Ithaca
since 1999.

These are two examples of his impact on the Yale program, but the
Reading, Mass., native has made his presence felt since scoring a
goal and handing out an assist in his first collegiate contest, a
win at No. 8 New Hampshire in 2006. It has developed into 13 goals
and 49 points in 86 career games, but his effect on the Blue is far
beyond the numbers. Even an economics and math major like Dignard
can see that.

“He has been important to the resurgence of the hockey
program, and he has many of the qualities that are important to
us,” said Keith Allain ’80, Yale’s Malcolm G.
Chace Head Coach. “He is very skilled, has a high hockey IQ,
can log lots of ice time and can play in all situations. But, most
what’s most important, he is ultra-competitive.”

Dignard, known as “Digs” among his teammates, was in a
vulnerable position near center ice at Ingalls Rink a week after
the win at Cornell when a Quinnipiac player rammed into him and
sent the Bulldog to the hospital for a week with a lacerated spleen
that ended his season and jeopardized his future on the ice.

“I was amazed how many people came to visit me in the
hospital. I knew my teammates were good friends, but that’s
when you really know how special they are,” said Dignard, who
attended practices and games when he was healthy enough to be back
on campus and has since made a full recovery.

Yale was in the middle of an eight-game win streak and suddenly
was facing a stretch run without its play-making, tempo-controlling
blueliner. Dignard, who had five goals and 17 points, was among the
top scoring defensemen in the country. He went on to earn
second-team All-ECAC Hockey honors despite playing in just 22
games.

“Digs goes on the ice every day with a purpose… to
get better. He makes the players around him better as well. When
No. 15 is in the lineup, we are a better team,” said
classmate Sean Backman. “When we lost Diggs last year, other
guys knew they were going to have to step up to fill that big hole.
Other guys did step up and we were able to win the ECAC
championship for him.”

One thing that wasn’t missing from the lineup with Dignard
out was a big voice.

“Digs tends to be soft spoken but leads by example very
well. When he went down last year it was a huge blow, but it gave
us something to rally around,” said Yale captain Ryan Donald.
“Knowing that we had a teammate who would give anything to be
back on the ice brought the importance of every shift into
perspective. I think that everyone stopped taking things for
granted and pushed themselves a bit harder every day.”

Backman, who has been the recipient of many quality Dignard passes
and has been a good friend for four years, must do most of the
talking himself.

“I don’t think he has said more than 17 words to me in
that time,” said Backman.

“I’m not a talking guy,” said Dignard, who has
yet to skate in a game this season because of a leg injury.
“I like to lead by example. I would like to be known as a
solid defenseman who steps up at the right time.”

Dignard has had a chance to observe Yale hockey operations from
both sides with the injury time. His explanation for the continued
progression of the program has two primary elements.

“Every day at practice everyone is fighting for their spot
and pushing each other. Everything is left on the ice,” said
Dignard, who relishes that scenario. “We also have become
closer as a team because we all eat dinner together on campus
now.”

Play-making blueliners tend to feed their teammates well, but
Dignard can take that skill to a different level. The former
Phillips Andover Academy Cum Laude and honor roll student-athlete,
who has been an academic All-ECAC selection each year, loves to
cook. He prefers not to use recipes (onions are off limits), and
says people get mad at him for not using them. Dignard, who is back
in Branford College after being able to cook off campus the last
two years, didn’t put down the idea of becoming a
“skating chef.”

Right now, all his teammates want from Dignard, who won the John
Poinier Award for Yale’s top defensive player his sophomore
year, is a steady diet of rubber -- in the form of pucks heading
for their sticks or the net.